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New Furnace and AC - Goodman v. Lennox

I am a homeowner in NC and I have decided to replace my 41 year old Lennox oil furnace and 22 year old Lennox AC unit with a high efficiency gas furnace (we already have a gas line into the house for our hot water) and a new AC unit. The house is a ranch with 2000 sq ft on the main floor and 500 finished sq ft in the basement.

We have received several estimates and have narrowed it down to 2. Both contractors have excellent reputations in the area and one of them has performed necessary service on our current furnace and AC unit a few times over the past few years. Both contractors spent a good deal of time asking/answering questions and seemed pretty thorough in their review of our house and its heating/cooling needs. The estimates are only $50 apart, so price is really not an issue.

Right now I am leaning slightly toward the Goodman because of the existing relationship with the contractor and the longer warranty; however, some of the comments that I have seen on this message board about Goodman products concern me.

Any suggestions the experts on this board could give me would be greatly appreciated. You experts on here do a great job of explaining complex things in a manner that we homeowners can understand and I have already learned a great deal by reading your comments on other threads. Thank you.

You are probably not going to get the years of service that you got with the old system.

With that said, if I were in your shoes I would much rather keep a contractor that I had an established relationship with. Go with the Goodman, if your contractor properly installs it, it will be just as good as any other brand.

What was the current A/C unit's tonnage, and why did one, or both, contractors elect to change it? Was a load calculation done? Is there a particular reason why you're not going with a variable-speed furnace?

What was the current A/C unit's tonnage, and why did one, or both, contractors elect to change it? Was a load calculation done? Is there a particular reason why you're not going with a variable-speed furnace?

I am not sure what the tonnage on the current AC unit is, so I don't know if one or both of the contractors changed it. It is a Lennox HS19-461V-1P. I did not see any load calculations and I am not really sure what one is. I had a separate quote from the contractor with the Lennox that included a variable speed furnace, but it was several thousand dollars more.

Looks like you had 3.5 tons to begin with. I'd ask the Goodman dealer why he is moving up to 4 tons. Bigger isn't always better. Oversized equipment can have a shortened lifespan, cost more to operature, and remove less moisture from the air. 3.5 tons or 4 tons may not be a significant difference, but it's important to have a properly-sized system nonetheless.